***Self-Care and CrossFit:***

Murph Check in

Reflections from a CrossFitting Yogi
The process of understanding how your body works is part of the process of doing CrossFit. When I began CrossFit, I was surprised by the amount of soreness that my body constantly had. The surprise at a regular “fitness practice” in adult life, which manifests as “shit, I’m sore,” comes with the strange realization that you need to do something about it in between classes. Some of you may be farther along in this path but for most of us reading this are struggling to understand the regiment of self-care to maximize this relationship.
Here are my top five ways to take care of yourself before, during, and after a workout.
Number 1: get to class 10 minutes ahead of time. I know it’s difficult. I’m the last one to preach this. Here’s why it is important: This lets you warm up properly and review the workout with a clear head. Far too often, we rush into the box say hi to our friends, and jump in without realizing that we need to adapt or change what we are doing. In the worst cases we find ourselves doing a movement that could potentially injure us. You may need to adapt or scale a movement based on what is happening with your body—but unless you make time to figure out what you’re doing and what part of your body hurts you won’t do that, we’re just on auto-pilot.
Number 2: always make decisions based on what's going on in your body during the warm-up, not necessarily what is being done in the workout itself. This does not mean ignoring what the coaches say during the workout! It means paying attention to your body and focusing more intentionally on what you need to do to warm up. If you have a tight Achilles, stretch it out by doing toe lifts, calf muscle stretches, or rolling it out.
Number 3: during the workout, if you feel anything off or wrong, stop. Finish and change it up. Do not try to finish the workout in pain, or try to override your system to keep working out. The purpose of CrossFit and workouts, in general, is to extend our life, mobility, and have a better life. If you feel a tear in your fifth pull-up, you're done! Walk off, go home, rest, massage and let it be. Go see a physical therapist or a chiropractor if needed. Recently, I experienced an Achilles sprain, and I'm glad I didn't keep on trying to hobble along in the workout, pretending that I was okay. I hurt badly during warmup and then after jumping two or three times in the workout everything stopped working. Can you believe your yoga instructor tried jumping on one foot to keep doing the workout? How insane is that? Just stop.
Number 4: after the workout, examine what's going on with your body. Luckily, we have a team that practices accessory work. Do that. Don’t skip it. Your approach to accessory work before and after your workout are true measures of yourself as an athlete. It's not necessarily how you did in the workout, but how you are approaching and understanding your body. So, do the accessory work and stretch out because it's happening for a reason.
Number five: do your practices a day or two after your workout. Yes, this means go to yoga, or do yoga at home. Concentrate on the muscles that were strained during the workout, and sometimes you may need to wait a day or two to actually feel that. This may be hard for you to build into your life if you sit in an office all day. You may need to find ways to roll out your muscles on the sly. If you go home in the evening, then you'll need to practice letting go of some responsibilities. Perhaps you get used to having your toddler sit on top of you while you roll out your back, roll out your butt, or do yoga poses. Making time to be connected to your body is part of the greater experience.
Keeping these things in mind, and having a practice of yoga, massage, physical therapy, etc., keeps you in a mindset of awareness around your body you can’t fail. Have fun at Murph, I’ll be in Delaware for Murph and MD doing my L1 with Samantha Fishman in Baltimore this week. Hugs to all .

Self-Care and CrossFit: Murph Check in

Reflections from a CrossFitting Yogi